I took apart my 1911 45 ACP last night for a thorough deep cleaning (the gun is probably 20-50 years old, blue is half worn off). No I am not talking about field stripping. Every part that moves, turns, springs, detents, etc is in pieces.

The gun does not feed or eject as reliably as I would like it to. A lot of this behavior was fixed when I bought a new Kimber magazine, but there is still reliability to be had.

I would like to "rebuild" it. Is there a general tune-up procedure or kit? Is there more to it than just springs? Are there other projects or to-do's I can perform while I have it apart?

THANKS!

May I respectfully suggest that you clean and lubricate every part, inspect everything.

Replace only what is necessary.

Put it back together.

Purchase some 230gr. RN FMJ FACTORY STANDARD ammunition and test it.

You may discover it is just fine.

Springs will generally correct those conditions in an unmolested gun.

What Chuck said.

Get some slide glide to lube your pistol and get some magazines that replicate John Brownings original design like those from CMI or Colt .

quote:

Springs will generally correct those conditions in an unmolested gun.

The local shop said the recoil spring* required special tweaking to make it work for the individual gun. Is this true?

As far as I know the gun is unmolested.

*memory issues..I think that is the spring they referred to.

i don't know what they mean by "tweaking, but the recoil spring does need replaced every now and then. if the gun hasn't been "customized" then the stock poundage is all you will need. i've worked on some guns that the spring came from the front end of a ford truck i believe to overcome some poorly fitted parts.
if i were you i would clean it, lube it, replace the recoil spring and then test fire it with several magazines using 230 grain fmj factory ammo. you then can discover if the gun works and if you have magazine issues.